KANSAS CITY - It should have been a classic college basketball game. The Kansas Jayhawks, led by the often-unstoppable Wilt Chamberlain, were up against top ranked North Carolina for the national championship. Everything pointed to this game being a college basketball classic, and for 30 minutes, it was. And while it's still remembered as one of the more memorable college basketball games ever played, it could have been so much more.
Led by all-American Lennie Rosenbluth, the Tar Heels took a 29-22 lead at halftime against Kansas, but Chamberlain started leading the Jayhawks back. In fact, it took Kansas only 3:20 to take the lead, going ahead 36-35. Kansas had outscored North Carolina 14-6 in only 3:20, a great display of scoring prowess.
And then, the game slowed down. Kansas was ahead 40-37 with 10:00 left in the game when both teams decided to start stalling. In the days before the shot clock, stalling was a perfectly legal strategy, and it was used often in close games, as coaches often held the ball for a final possession. And so, what had been a great, tight, often tense game was ruined by two coaches stalling.
From the 10:00 mark to the 5:00 mark, neither team attempted a shot. They finally started to pick up the play with 5:00 left, but not by much, and the game was tied 46-46 after regulation. From there, it looked like Kansas would have the advantage, as they still had Wilt, and North Carolina's great Rosenbluth had fouled out with 20 points.
Instead, both teams continued their stalling ways. Each team scored just one basket in the first overtime and didn't score at all in the second. It was 48-48 entering the third overtime when the two teams finally started to try scoring again. And once they did, the game returned to its legendary status.
A pair of free-throws put Kansas up 53-52 with :20 left in the third overtime. North Carolina's Tommy Kearns tried for a game-winning basket but had his shot blocked by Chamberlain. However, Chamberlain was called for the foul, putting Kearns on the line. Kearns made both free throws to give the Tar Heels a 54-53 lead with six seconds left. From there, there was little doubt what Kansas would try to do. As the Jayhawks tried to get the pass in to Chamberlain for a game-winning shot, Kearns tipped the pass away, clinching the national title for North Carolina.
As Wilt got older and turned into the most dominant force in basketball, he considered the 1957 national championship game to be his biggest failure as an athlete. For their part, the Kansas fans never blamed him for losing that game. It's probably best that they didn't. If their coach had just let the team play instead of ordering the stalling tactic, perhaps there wouldn't have been a reason for Wilt to feel shame.
Showing posts with label Kansas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kansas. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
April 7, 2008: Practice those free throws
SAN ANTONIO - In gyms all across the country, whether occupied by junior-high players, professionals, or somebody in between, nearly all basketball practices end the same way. After hours of drills and sprints and sweating and straining, the players gather at various hoops spread around the floor and shoot free throws. They do it when they're dead tired, when they almost don't have the energy to walk off the floor, so that when it comes time to hit big free throws at the end of a game, fatigue won't be an issue.
Now, any coach who hears players complain about the endless free-throw practice can simply put in a tape of the final 2 minutes of the 2008 NCAA national championship game to make his point.
Trailing by 9 with 2:12 to play, the Kansas Jayhawks had to resort to the strategy coaches dread: intentionally fouling and hoping your opponents miss. Fortunately, Kansas was playing Memphis, who ranked 339th in the country (out of 341 teams) in free-throw percentage. Memphis coach John Calipari said he wasn't worried about his team's free-throw troubles, saying he knew his players could come through when it mattered.
Think again, coach.
Memphis missed four of its final five free-throws, when making even one more certainly would have clinched a championship. Instead, Kansas was able to mount an improbable comeback, scoring 12 points in the final 2 minutes by not missing a shot from either the field or the free-throw line. When Mario Chalmers tied the game with a stunning three-pointer with 2 seconds left, Memphis could only wonder what could have been.
The overtime seemed like a foregone conclusion. Kansas scored the first six points against the shell-shocked Tigers and rolled to the national championship by a 75-68 score. And while the Jayhawks played like champions at the end of the game and certainly deserved their trophy, there were many who couldn't help but think that rather than Kansas winning the game, it was Memphis who lost it.
Honorable Mention:
April 7, 2003
NEW ORLEANS - In a battle of two hall-of-fame coaches seeking their first national championship, Jim Boeheim's Syracuse team edged Roy William's Kansas squad 81-78. The championship was decided not by a clutch shot, but rather by a block for the ages, as Syracuse's Hakim Warrick came out of nowhere to block the seemingly open Michael Lee's game-tying 3-point attempt with less than a second to play.
Now, any coach who hears players complain about the endless free-throw practice can simply put in a tape of the final 2 minutes of the 2008 NCAA national championship game to make his point.
Trailing by 9 with 2:12 to play, the Kansas Jayhawks had to resort to the strategy coaches dread: intentionally fouling and hoping your opponents miss. Fortunately, Kansas was playing Memphis, who ranked 339th in the country (out of 341 teams) in free-throw percentage. Memphis coach John Calipari said he wasn't worried about his team's free-throw troubles, saying he knew his players could come through when it mattered.
Think again, coach.
Memphis missed four of its final five free-throws, when making even one more certainly would have clinched a championship. Instead, Kansas was able to mount an improbable comeback, scoring 12 points in the final 2 minutes by not missing a shot from either the field or the free-throw line. When Mario Chalmers tied the game with a stunning three-pointer with 2 seconds left, Memphis could only wonder what could have been.
The overtime seemed like a foregone conclusion. Kansas scored the first six points against the shell-shocked Tigers and rolled to the national championship by a 75-68 score. And while the Jayhawks played like champions at the end of the game and certainly deserved their trophy, there were many who couldn't help but think that rather than Kansas winning the game, it was Memphis who lost it.
Honorable Mention:
April 7, 2003
NEW ORLEANS - In a battle of two hall-of-fame coaches seeking their first national championship, Jim Boeheim's Syracuse team edged Roy William's Kansas squad 81-78. The championship was decided not by a clutch shot, but rather by a block for the ages, as Syracuse's Hakim Warrick came out of nowhere to block the seemingly open Michael Lee's game-tying 3-point attempt with less than a second to play.
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